Safeway Stores Stocked Up for Storm

Safeway’s mid-atlantic service area, which includes Montgomery County, began preparing for the winter storm nearly a week beforehand.

Safeway Public Affairs Manager Craig Muckle says that the distribution centers for the company are at full capacity and have increased supplies in stores.

“If this was a sunny day, no weather, we probably would send out about 60,000 cases of product from our non-perishable warehouse, but this week [like on Thursday] our distribution director said we sent about close to 190,000 cases, so it’s like three times the volume,” Muckle said.

Safeway also increased supplies for perishable items, on average the company sends 30,000 to 40,000 cases daily, that climbed to 60,000 in preparation for the storm, Muckle said.

Distribution centers for Safeway’s mid-atlantic service area are located in Upper Marlboro and Aberdeen Maryland.

Muckle also said that while the plan is for most stores to operate on a normal schedule, safety is the company’s number one concern.

“Many store managers have made arrangements to have their employees stay in hotels, if they want to do that. Or people in the store who have heavy vehicles or may have snow plows attached to their vehicles can pick-up people,” Muckle said

“If people are able to get out, then they’re likely to come to the store,” he said. The decision to stay open is made on a store by store basis.

About Maureen Chowdhury

Maureen Chowdhury is a multimedia journalist with Montgomery Community Media. She can be reached at mchowdhury@mymcmedia.org and on Twitter at @MediaMaureen.
Maureen authors the blog Sound Check on MyMCMedia.

About MyMCMedia

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